Emirates NBD sows more Seed for UAE entrepreneurs
New offer to help nationals with Dh2.5m to set up their businesses
Dubai: In its continued effort to facilitate Emirati entrepreneurs to set up their own businesses, Emirates NBD announced that it had further enhanced the offering on its Seed Capital Loan initiative.
UAE nationals intending to start their own enterprise can obtain up to Dh2.5 million via the Seed Capital Loan initiative to fund their initial capital requirement. For a limited period of time, Emirates NBD is also offering special pricing and an attractive repayment tenor of 12 years.
"Surveys have shown that Emiratis have led the growth in business start-up activity in the UAE in recent years, with much of the endeavour coming from young adults," said Saif Al Mansouri, the bank's Deputy Head of Group Marketing and Branding.
"Challenges of accessing finance, however, have also compelled a relatively high number of start-up businesses to discontinue operations in the early stages.
Emirates NBD's enhanced offering on the Seed Capital Loan is expected to support the recent increase in new business activity.
In 2009, the UAE had a business start-up activity rate of 6.5 per cent, which was an increase of 38 per cent from pre-global recession results of 2006-2007, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report titled "Entrepreneurship in the United Arab Emirates."
Strongest growth
The report also noted that among 54 innovation-driven economies measured, the UAE marked the strongest growth in business start-up activity in 2009.
During the same period, the US and countries of the Eurozone recorded a significant drop in business start-up activity.
The GEM report also states that UAE nationals contributed 8.4 per cent to new business start-up activity in 2009 in comparison to 4.9 per cent in 2007.
"The Seed Capital Loan has continued to attract great interest from UAE nationals since it was first launched last year, and the enhanced offering is evid-ence of our commitment to support UAE national entrepreneurship.
"Now, all UAE nationals aged 25 and over can obtain a tailor-made option to seed finance and get their business enterprises off to a promising start. We believe it will inspire more Emiratis to develop their ideas into fully-fledged business enterprises, which are of vital importance to the growth and prosperity of the UAE economy," added Al Mansouri.
Under the enhanced offering, UAE nationals need minimal documentation to apply for a loan amount up to Dh2.5 million to set up a new business.
